March 18, birthdays for Queen Latifah, Adam Levine, Vanessa Williams

Brooklyn Today

March 18, 2016 Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Queen Latifah celebrates her birthday today. Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

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Greetings, Brooklyn. Today is the 78th day of the year.

ON THIS DAY IN 1918, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle published an article titled “Seagulls Feast in Park on Winter’s Fish Victims.”

The article focused on seagulls flocking to Prospect Park to feed on numerous dead fish that arose in the pond.

“Thousands of Brooklynites pushing their baby carriages around the lake yesterday and today were astounded to see the shore hugged by seagulls, which were busily fighting for the component elements of a layer of dead fish which covered the water,” the Eagle reported. “The popular theory among the fond parents … was that the ice had frozen to such a great solidity and thickness that the fish had been deprived of their proper supply of oxygen.”

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NOTABLE PEOPLE born on this day include Olympic gold medalist speed skater Bonnie Blair, who was born in 1964; singer Irene Cara, who was born in the Bronx in 1959; comedian and actor Dane Cook, who was born in 1972; former president of South Africa Frederik Willem de Klerk, who was born in 1936; actor Kevin Dobson, who was born in New York City in 1944; actor Brad Dourif, who was born in 1950; Tony Award-winning composer John Kander, who was born in 1927; actor Shashi Kapoor, who was born in 1938; Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine, who was born in 1979; singer Charley Pride, who was born in 1938; singer and actress Queen Latifah, who was born in 1970; singer and actress Vanessa Williams, who was born in New York City in 1963; and figure skater Alexei Yagudin, who was born in 1980.

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JOHN UPDIKE was born on this day in 1932. Updike was a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer who authored more than 50 books, as well as hundreds of short stories, essays and poems. He often wrote of mundane life in Middle America. He died in Massachusetts in January of 2009.

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CONEY ISLAND’S Luna Park is holding a job fair today from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the B&B Carousell. For more information, visit lunaparknyc.com/about/employment.

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THE 10TH ANNUAL Persian Arts Festival will take place tonight from 8:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. at National Sawdust, 80 N. Sixth St., in Williamsburg. The celebration will feature films, poetry readings and performances. For more information, visit persianartsfestival.org.

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CONEY ISLAND USA will present its Annual Spring Gala on Saturday beginning at 8 p.m. at 1208 Surf Ave. The event will fund the not-for-profit arts organization. For more information, visit coneyisland.com/gala.

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Special thanks to “Chase’s Calendar of Events” and Brooklyn Public Library.